I ordered an F-hole A style mandolin kit from International Violin about 10 years ago and am just looking at starting it. I have three questions for the experts out there.
1. The two soundboard braces look exactly like the bass bars you would install in a violin except they appear to go on both the treble and bass sides. Is that correct? Is that sufficient bracing or would you add a crosspiece?
2. The neck doesn't go all the way to the bottom so I'm assuming it needs to be fitted by removing material from the slot in the neck block until you get a super tight fit (like you would do on a violin).
3. There appears to be holes drilled in both the bottom side of the neck and the sides of the neck block for some sort of retaining pins. There are two short dowel pieces in the kit but their diameter is way too large for this purpose. Is this for the pins? Or do you have to make some?
Lastly (question 4), would you use hot hide glue for the top so that it could be taken apart later or just stick with something like Titebond 3?
Sorry to reference a violin so much. I have built 4 violins but never a mandolin. I appreciate the fact that string tension is much greater in the mandolin and therefore much more force is exerted on the top.
Thanks in advance! Dan.
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